cats and canaries
by wild wolf free17
Summary: Sabertooth finds and raises X5493.
1. Chapter 1

**Title**: cats and canaries

**Chapter**: II

**Fandom**: "Dark Angel" / _Origins: Wolverine_ crossover

**Disclaimer**: not my characters; just for fun.

**Warnings**: AU

**Pairings**: none

**Rating**: PGish

**Wordcount**: 340

**Point** **of** **view**: third

**Prompt**: Would love a fic about Ben and Sabretooth, then. Your choice if its gen or slash. Just would love to see how these two interact.  


* * *

The day of the Pulse, Victor woke up fighting mad. Something felt off in the air and it made him shudder in apprehension. He hated that feeling, so he went hunting for someone to kill.

Instead, he found a trembling boy, the cub exhausted and emaciated and delectable enough to eat. Victor just stared at him, curled up at the base of a tree, hazel eyes wide.

"And who might you be?" he asked, crouching down. He didn't want to kill the kid, to his own shock. Kinda wanted to adopt him, take him home, feed him good and proper. He hadn't felt this way since he followed Jimmy into the woods that night of awakenings.

The cub just bared his teeth, eyes narrowing. Maybe if he were bigger it'd be intimidating, but Victor just bared his teeth right back, adding a hint of a growl to the words when he demanded, "What's your name?"

"Ben," the kid muttered. "Sir."

"Well, Ben-Sir," Victor said, standing back up and stepping over his side. "You're comin' with me, cub. Clearly, you're as useless at takin' care of yourself as Jimmy."

The boy fought like a wildcat, like Victor when he'd been young. But he was wounded and tired and clearly starving, so it was barely a struggle. When he was full-grown, though, and at full strength? Victor could imagine the battle and his mouth watered.

Benny-boy didn't smell like a mutant, Victor noticed, when he had him in his arms. He smelled like the cougars Victor sometimes hunted against, seeing who could bring down the prey first. Mixed in with the cat, though, was normal human, blood and sweat. It was an interesting combination, one he'd study further later.

Once he'd accepted that he couldn't get free, the cub settled right on down. "Be good now, cub," Victor purred. "I'll take care of you, don't fret."

"Yes, sir," he said softly. Victor smirked. Yes, this boy would be fun. One day, he might even be as good of a hunting partner as Jimmy.


	2. Chapter 2

**Title**: cats and canaries

**Chapter**: II

**Fandom**: "Dark Angel" / _Origins: Wolverine_ crossover

**Disclaimer**: not my characters

**Warnings**: AU

**Pairings**: none

**Rating**: R

**Wordcount**: 290

**Point of view**: third

* * *

Victor follows his cub to Seattle, a quiet presence in the background hum of noise he knows Benny-boy can never truly silence. Ben has to roam sometimes, marking territory up and down the country. Victor understands; he used to have the whole world as his playground. He sometimes feels stifled now, that he's spent years on the same speck of dirt.

But cubs need stability. In the ten years since he found Ben, Victor has done his best by the boy. Trained him up good and proper, and Ben was even better than Jimmy at hunting. Not quite as strong as Victor, but faster and more agile. He could scent out prey just as good, with better eyesight and equal hearing.

When Ben goes hunting, it's a sight to behold. He does Victor proud.

They leave corpses up and down the country, stupid humans that get in the way. Ben has a more methodical way of killing, most of the time, while Victor just rips them apart.

Ben follows his instincts to Seattle, muttering something about family before taking off. Victor follows him, close enough that the cub knows he's there, far enough back for the kid to have space.

He watches while Ben grabs humans to hunt. Smirks in the shadows as Ben finally lets loose the wildcat within to tear out their throats with his teeth, spreading them across the clearing.

While his cub is lost in bloodlust, Victor hears someone coming. He breathes deep—whoever it is, she smells like Ben. She's almost as quiet.

He circles around her, ghosting up to her back, and snaps her neck before she ever realizes he's there. He leaves her body on the ground and lopes to his cub.


End file.
